Well, looks like things got a little crazy here on the board while I was away. I will say that yes the loss sucked (especially in person in the upper deck with the rest of the LSU fans), it is far from the end of the world. Couple of quick observations I have regarding my trip, the game, the City of Athens, and the fans..... My trip, as always, was awesome. The only crappy part was Atlanta and Athens traffic on Friday. I can totally understand why people have road rage, and I was not even driving. Coming from a Dallas resident with terrible traffic, that should tell you something about how people drive in Atlanta. The food was good, the Tiger fans were great, even in defeat, and the weather was very nice. TRIP A+ The game, on the other hand, was heartwrenching. I went from saying this sucks, to man we have a chance at halftime, to this sucks again at the start of the fourth quarter. Through it all I will say that our fans handled themselves with class and I did not see too much poor sportsmanship towards the Georgia folks before or after the game. AS FOR THE GEORGIA FANS...........it was evident from minute one in Athens that this was something more then a game for them, it was personal. I would say that 85-90% of the fans were very nice and gave ribbing towards LSU fans in good taste. The remainder were foul, crude, laced with profanity and in your face ready to fight. Most of these folks were students it appeared, and I guess you should expect such from drunken college kids, but I have been to Florida, Tennessee, and so on and never was treated like I was in Athens by that 10-15% mentioned above. I will never go back to Athens again for this reason alone. GAME AND FANS D As for the city of Athens, it is pretty nice except for the police who wait at the bars to hand out open container tickets to out of towners. You would think you would get a warning before a ticket, especially on a big game weekend, but apparently this is not the case in Athens. We were lucky to get out of our ticket thanks to a police officer from LA that was with our group, but we saw many LSU fans getting tickets outside of the Bourbon Street Bar on Broad Street. CITY D So as you can see, my trip had its ups and downs. Unlike Florida and Tennessee though, I left Athens with a very bad taste in my mouth and will not be making a return trip. SO, here are my Top 5 SEC road trips after this one.... 1. South Carolina - best trip by far, a must for true football fans 2. Auburn - can't beat a big game against a big rival 3. Florida - everyone has to see a game at the Swamp at least once 4. Tennessee - stadium is crammed, but impressive non the less 5. Arkansas - always electric in Little Rock
The thing that always blew me away about Athens was their downtown scene which IMO is the best in the SEC. I love Baton Rouge but the closeness of Athens's 50+ bars is ridiculous.
Yah I really hope that all of the downtown revitalization talk in Baton Rouge comes to pass. I would love for BR to have a nice downtown music and bars district where you can go and stop at various bars throughout the night. Instead we have Tigerland :dis:
The bad fans just goes both ways, sorry to say. I have a buddy that was walking through downtown after class on Friday afternoon when he passed by a restaurant down there where some considerably drunk LSU fans were sitting outside and tried to pick a fight with him as he walked by (6 LSU fans vs 1 friend of mine). Just saying....it is all in the eye of the beholder.
Everyone I actually talked to was extremely nice. Although there were a few drunks that did the "LSU sucks" drive-by while we were walking back from the game. Other than that, a great group of folks. Nothing like the Ole Miss and Florida ***holes I've run across when I've been there.
Mesquite Glad you made it back in 1 piece and enjoyed your trip. I must admit if the roles were reversed from last year some of us might be a little hostile towards the Georgia folks. For 1 team to beat a team twice much like we did them in the SECCG and then to win the NC. We were the *only* team to stand in Georgia's way from playing for a NC so its rather human nature for some to be that way IMHO!
I agree totally with you, it was just wierd how personal it all seemed at times. I kept a cool head and fun for the most part. I know the rep LSU fans have, and most if it has been earned by a very small minority. It is just I have never encountered the "small minority" at another school until this UGA trip.....all is forgiven. I will say the bar scene there is great (right by campus it seems), and the women are fantastic and unbelievably beautiful :grin: . :thumb:
I would have to say that if you don't go back to a great college game because of a few idiots you are coming out on the losing end of it.
I found the Georgia fans to be nice and respectful. Not even 1 taunt was even thrown out before or after the game at me or my friends.
I live in GA and most of there fans are bad.....Shoot half of them dont even know who David Greene is.
